But this year, I realized my list was dominated by shows at big venues: Springsteen’s final stand at The Spectrum, Pearl Jam’s closing that venue, Dylan/Willie Nelson/John Mellencamp at Allentown’s Coca-Cola Park.

That squeezed a lot of great shows at smaller venues off the list. A shame, because there were a lot of great shows at venues of 2,500 or less. So I decided to make an ancillary list of smaller-venue shows.

So here’s my list of smaller-arena shows:

1.David Archuleta, March 1 at Crocodile Rock Cafe, Allentown, and Dec. 18 at Sherman Theater, Stroudsburg – A couple of shows that were different, but equally great. I liked the energy and freshness of the Croc Rock show better; my wife liked the warmth and depth of the Sherman Christmas show better. Not fair to list both separately, so together they’re No. 1.

2.Boys Like Girls/Cobra Starship/A Rocket to the Moon/The Maine, Nov. 19, Croc Rock -- Five bands whose careers stretch three years or less and whose time at the top of the charts is measured in months packed a nearly sold-out crowd into Crocodile Rock Café -- and with good reason: Their music is great. And while Boys Like Girls and Cobra Starship headlined the night, even more surprising is how lesser-known bands The Maine and A Rocket to the Moon not only got rabid responses -- the crowd knew all the words to songs that have been out four months or less and haven't gotten extensive radio play -- but actually might have the been the best bands of the night.

3.Darius Rucker, Nov. 28, State Theater, Easton -- Hootie and the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker’s metamorphosis into a country singer was probably one of the shortest leaps in music history, and he made the bridge between genres even shorter at this show. Two weeks after winning the Country Music Association’s Best New Artist award, Rucker played nine of the 12 songs from his platinum first country album, “Learn to Live” -- many of which would have fit just fine on Hootie’s breakthrough 1994 disc “Cracked Rear View” – in a 19-song show. And as if to prove the point, seamlessly added three Hootie songs in the show’s second half.

Caution! Lyrical content.

4.Insane Clown Posse,Dec. 5, Croc Rock -- Who knew violent lyrics and a stage show of mayhem could be so entertaining? Apparently the more than 1,000 people who packed into this near-sellout show. And they were rewarded with perhaps the best stage show – let’s be clear, I’m talking about show, not musical performance here – Croc Rock has ever seen. Yes, the energy was over the top. Yes, near the stage the bodies were tightly stacked. And yes, police took at least one patron out in handcuffs and appeared to cite at least one more outside. But what was onstage was a feast for the eyes for 75 minutes, and the front part of the club was barely controlled mayhem for those who wanted it.

5.Metro Station/Mayday Parade/Mitchell Musso/Evan Taubenfeld, Aug. 12, Croc Rock -- Neither electro-pop band Metro Station nor rising Disney star Mitchel Musso have songs that will change the world, so it’s possible someone attending their show could have been disappointed. But it was a pretty raucous, if harmless, affair for what was essentially a ‘tween concert. And it had enough cool moments – meant euphemistically: the tightly-packed, sold-out crowd of more than 1,000 actually had the place swelteringly hot -- to make it memorable. Metro Station did everything it could to make the time count. A pre-“Merry Swiftmas” Taubenfeld opened the show.

6.Ed Kowalczyk, Leigh Nash, Art Alexakis, Oct. 23, Sherman Theater -- Presenting rock band Live’s dramatic rock songs in a stripped solo acoustic format sounds like a really cool idea, and for the most part, when the band’s lead singer, Ed Kowalczyk, came to Stroudsburg’s Sherman Theater, it was. For the other two acts on the Open Wings Broken Strings tour – Art Alexakis of Everclear and Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer – the format was less successful, but still interesting. And enjoyable.

7.Plain White T’s, April 19, Muhlenberg College -- There’s an old saying: “Two out of three ain’t bad.” But Plain White T’s didn’t have to worry whether that’s true after their show at Muhlenberg College in Allentown: The Chicago punk-pop quintet nailed each part of its “Three Part Harmony: A Show in 3 Acts” tour. They played the opening rock set, the middle three-song acoustic interlude, and the closing medley with equal intensity.

8.Marshall Crenshaw, Oct. 24, Sellersville Theater -- Marshall Crenshaw’s show at Sellersville Theater 1894 was much like his career: The songs and performance were wonderful, catchy and well performed. But the show was far too low-key for such a talent, and appreciated by far too few people -- in this case, barely 100. Playing mostly on a hollow-bodied electric guitar with a single vintage amplifier, Crenshaw worked his way through 21 songs in a show that lasted an hour and 20 minutes -- during which he remained seated and dressed in a tan suit and porkpie hat, addressing the audience only occasionally as he alternated between his 1980s hits and songs from his newest disc, “Jaggedland.”

9.Asher Roth, Oct. 9, Croc Rock -- Bucks county rapper Asher Roth loves college – or at least the laid-back, college party lifestyle. And that’s what made this show so easy to love in return. Roth’s show was a wild one; a blast of high-energy hedonism that lasted 12 songs. He started by slapping hands with the whole first row during the opening “Lark on My Go-Kart.” He showered the crowd with water during “I Love College,” the massive hit from his debut disc “Asleep in the Bread Aisle,” and briefly jumped into the crowd at the end of the night.

10. Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, Nov. 15, Sellersville Theater 1894 -- Susanna Hoffs, leader of the '80s girl group The Bangles, and '90s alt-rocker Matthew Sweet might seem a contrast -- and indeed appeared so at a sold-out show as Sid and Susie at Sellersville Theater 1894 Sunday night: Sweet in jeans and a T-shirt, wearing aqua-sock-like Five Finger Footwear shoes ; Hoffs in a frilly, shoulder-strap black dress with high boots. But just as they do on their two CDs of covers of 1960s and '70s songs, "Sid & Susie Under the Covers Vol. 1 and 2," -- they meshed for an astonishing show of 24 songs over an hour and 49 minutes.

JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.